Underframe structure for vehicles, especially trailers



UNDERFRAME STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLES, ESPECIALLY TRAILERS T L U m R E H. R

ori in-a1 Filed April 2, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l R T Y s m mi w v E A T 0S m M 0m k .ll W W o m m Kw M y N@ m w@ W- NQ ON*\ 0: E. om ow mm) o o n H u e 1111: %.V.\\\ u I m M W W H M M 1- N W m l W I l N Wm m m "I H L wm mm W J L W: 1 l \g m m m m I W W m 'M W W m L L 3 n J 5 h w 0% PM 3 mp TOE ow mm PM PM May 4, 194-8. R. J. THERIAULT UNDERFRAME' STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLES, ESPECIALLY TRAILERS Original Filed April 2, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 8 9 0 6 6. 7 w M W M i n T u m -|L mknulflhl m m m m m w Mm m w 7 A W W r o v 1 m 4 J m e 5 d 3 n .2 Q m 1 4 1 a r g 1 .vw I W a mwwwww E w Patented May 4, 1948 UNITED STATES, PATENT oFFIcE UNDERFBAME STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLES, ESPECIALLY TRAILERS Raymond J. Therianlt, Glenslde, Pa., assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, l'a., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application April 2, 1941, Serial No. 886,519. Divided and this application August 26, 1943, Serial No. 500,026

I Claims. (01. 296-28) The invention relates to improvements in vements, the roof unit R, the front wall unit F, the

hicle body construction and more particularly in two side wall units 8, the bottom or underframe the underframe structure of large size commercial structure B, ,and the rear doors (not shown) bodies such as semi-trailers, trailers, buses, etc. which constitute the major portion of the rear outstandingly, the invention is concerned with 6 wall. improvements of vehicle structures of the general The roof R comprises a main panel 25 of longiconstruction disclosed in the inventor's Patent tudinally corrugated sheet material, preferably No. 2,172,571, Vehicle, of September 12, 1939, and highly cold worked stainless steel of the so-called abandoned application Serial No. 386,519, Vehicle 18/8 type, that is, steel of 18% chromium and structure especially trailer, filed April 2, 1941, of 10 8% nickel, the strength of which has been inwhichlatter the present application is a division. creased by about 50 to 100% or more through Among the chief objects ofthe invention are: cold rolling. The panel 25 is transversely reinreduction of the dead weight, coupled with a corforced by a plurality of carlines 21 which are responding increase of the admissible pay-load spaced from each other in longitudinal direction,

and decrease of the operating costs; maintenance its side margins are reinforced by angle section or increase of the strength and durability; and rails 33 (not shown), and its rear margin and simplification of the structure and its manufacthe rear ends of the rails 33 are connected, as ture coupled with corresponding savings of manuby spot welding, to a. transverse angle section facturing costs. rail member 31 (Figs. 1 and 2). At the forward The last-named aims are, however, mostly not end, the ro f p nel 2 is pp m nted by a lon deoiding factors for vehicles of the type in questudinally and transversely curved stamping 40 tion, where every pound saved in dead weight and which extends across the entire width of the body increased durability, even if attained at higher and is connected with an angle section rail 44. initial costs, pays high dividends on account of The front wall unit F is curved in plan view. the increase of admissible pay-load, of the lowered It comprises a horizontally corrugated panel 54, maintenance costs, and of the decrease of lost an upper rail 55, a rub rail 69, an angle section time necessary for overhauling and repairing. skirt rail BI, and vertical posts 62, some of which The above-outlined objects and aims of the do not extend over the entire height of the front invention and other objects are outstandingly wall-see Figure 1. attained by the novel formation .of the under- Each of the side wall units comprises a longiframe structure and of the spring attachment tudinally corrugated main panel 63, and an upper means. rail 64, a rub rail 68, and skirt rail 10.

Further objects, advantages and features of the The skirt I0 is composed of a number of meminvention will appear from the following descripbers Ii, I2, I3, 14 and I5. The cross section of tion of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in member II is about the same as the cross section connection with the attached drawings. of the skirt 6| of the front wall. The sections In the drawings: 13 and 15 are provided over their entire length Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section with an outwardly projecting longitudinal reinthrough the middle of a semi-trailer body. forcing rib or beading 16 at about the'middle of Figure 2 is a plan view of the bottom structure" 40 their height, and along their lower margin with and a section through the vertical body walls an inwardly extending flange 'l'l ending in a, naralong line 2--2 of Figure 1. row downwardly extending flange 18. The sec- Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the rear tions 12 and M serve as connections between the corner portion of the body understructure similar sections ll, 13 and 18. 15 respectively and are to the corresponding portion of Figure 2, but on provided over part of their length with the reina larger scale. forcing rib or beading 16. This skirt construc-.

Figures 4 and 5 are fragmentary sections retion represents an improvement over the more spectively along lines 4-4 and 5-5 of Figure 3. complicated skirtconstruction of the bodies dis- Figure 6 is a. fragmentary section along line closed in applicant's earlier patent. It is not 6-6 of Figure 4. I only simpler and cheaper than the earlier struc- The body shown in the drawings is a trailer ture, but it is amply strong to take care of all the body, and is of the so-called self-sustaining type, stresses to which this lower chord member may that is the running gear is directly attached to it be subjected.

without an intervening separate chassis frame. Vertical 'posts 19 of Z-section are connected to 'I'hebody is composed of the following main ele,-. b the panel .3, and to the rails 64, 68 and 10 at the same longitudinal intervals as the roof carlines 21. At certain especially highly stressed points short post members are connected to the lower portion of the panel 63 and the rails 68. I0 so as to more evenly distribute the stresses over a wide area of the side wall which forms one of the main load supp rting members of the body. It will also be noted that in certain regions (e. g. the region of the landing gear, not shown), the distance between successive posts or carlines is diminishedso as to achieve increased strength and better stress distribution.

G-section transverse floor beams 88 are connected by their vertical webs to the lower ends of the webs of the Z-section side wall posts I9 in the region of the side wall skirt members I3. At the front end, beams 89 of similar C-section but of less height and a fifth wheel bolster 90 are employed. A rail 9| of similar C-section is arranged at the rear end of the vehicle. This rail 9| interconnects the lower ends of vertical door post members 92 which latter belong to the side wall units and have their upper ends connected to the rear transverse rail 31 to 39 of the roof unit. A bolster structure for supporting the rear wheels is arranged between the last beam 88 and rearward beam 9|.

The bolster structure comprises two heavy transverse beams 93 of identical shape but facing in opposite directions. These beams are C-shaped in cross section, the opening of the forward beam faces forwardly and the opening of the rearward beam faces rearwardly. The webs 94 of both beams are arranged vertically and their ends are connected after the final assembly of the body to the lower ends of side wall post I9. The central portion of the lower wall 95 of each beam is downwardly offset so as to increase the height, whereas the height at the end of the beams is substantially the same as the: height of the other transverse beams 88.

Inserted between the two beams 93 are longitudinal sill members 96. These members 96 are arranged in the region of the springs (not shown) for the rear wheels. The members 96 comprise a channel with a bottom wall 91, side walls 98, and lateral flanges 99. The openings of these channels face upwardly.

' U-section members I00 have their bottom wall I0| fastened to the side walls 98 of the beams 96, one of their side walls I02 to the web 94 of one of the transverse beams 93, whereas the opposite side walls I03 of two members I00 are interconnected by a bridge Piece I04 beneath the bottom wall 91 of the beams. 96. The pieces I08 are angle-shaped in side elevation and have their second arms I05 arranged beneath the bottom walk 91 of the beam 96.

Downwardly facing U-s'ction members I06 are inserted between the ends of the members I00 which project downwardly beyond the beam 96. The side walls of these members I06 are fastened to the adjoining bottom walls I01 of the members I00 whereas the bottom walls of the members I06 are fastened to the lower arm 95 of the beams 93. A bushing I01 extends between the two opposite members I00 at each end of the beam 96. Moreover, a sleeve or bushing I08 is fastened to the forward pair of members I00 and the member I06. The members I00 and i06 are transversely reinforced in th region of the bushings I01 and I08 by welded-in walls I01 and I08. The sleeves I01, I08 serve for the attachment of the spring shackles or one eye of a leaf sprin respectively (not shown).

Each beam 96 is reinforced at about its middle by a transverse U-section member I09 which is connected by flanges IIO to the side walls 98 of the beam 96. The bottom wall 9! of the beam 96 is furthermore reinforced in its forward section by a welded-on reinforcing strip III. The ends of the flanges 99 are connected to the top wall of the beams 93 by bracket plates I I2.

Rails H3, H4 of comparatively small height and substantially C-shaped in section are inserted respectively between a post I9 of the side wall and the middle of the next beam 96 or between the middle of the two beams 96. The connection between the rails H3, H6 and the beams 96 is effected by welding the top wall of those rails to the top flanges 99 of the beams 96. and by angle brackets H5 which are welded respectively to the vertical web of the rails and the vertical side walls 98 of the beams 96 in the region where the beams are reinforced by the members I09. The spaces between the ends of the rails II3, IN are bridged by reinforcing plates II6 which extend across the open mouths of the beams 96 and are welded to the flanges 99.

The entire structure comprising the beams. 93, 96, the brackets I00, I06, the rails H3, IHI with all the described reinforcements are preassembled into a bolster unit. which is connected as such in a final assembly operation with the body side .wall units. This bolster unit has likewise been proven very successful after extended severe tests, although this unit is lighter, and cheaper and easier to manufacture than the previously used bolsters.

A further increase of the stiffness of selfsupporting body structures is achieved b a pair of X-brace's formed by metal bands I" and H8. These bands II! have their rear ends fastened by spot welding to bracket plates II9 which are connected to the rear transverse beam 9| and the vertical rear door posts 92 as well as to the rub rails 68. The forward ends of the bands It! and the rear ends of the bands II8 are fastened to the rub rails 68 and to one of the beams 88 by means of bracket plates I20. The forward ends of the bands II8 are fastened to the rear transverse member of the fifth wheel bolster 90. At the crossing points, the bands of each pair H1, H8 are rigidly connected such as by spot welding.

A flooring I2I (not shown) of any suitable material is directly supported by the tops of the beams 88, 89, 90, 93, H3, H4, and the diagonal bands Ill, H8 and extends laterally into the rub rails 68.

For heavier loads, the wheel-supporting transverse beams 93 may be reinforced in the regions of the ends of the longitudinal beams 96. Such reinforcements consist of two angle section members I22, I23 which have one of their arms welded together so that they form a generally Z-section structure. One of the arms of this structure is welded to the web 94 of a beam 93, whereas the other free arm is welded to a metal band I24. This metal band has its ends bent over and welded to the horizontal top and bottom walls of the beam 93.

Substantially the entire body, with the exception of the floor I2I and the bushings I01, I08 for the springs consists preferably of high tensile stainless steel such as austenitio stainless steel with 16% chromium and 8% nickel, the strength of which has been increased by 50 to 100% through cold rolling. The connection between the different members is preferably effected by the Shotweld system which does not deleteriously influence the corrosion resistance properties and the cold-work strength of the stainless steel. Yet, the features of the invention may also prove useful it applied to other materials.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the illustrated and described embodiments, but the following claims are intended to cover all modifications which are based on the same principles as the one embodiment dealt with in detail.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle underirame: a pair of transverse beams longitudinally spaced irom each other and each having a substantially vertically arranged web; vtwo hollow section longitudinal beams having spaced vertical side walls and arranged at a distance from each other between said transverse beams; a pair of brackets U- shaped in horizontal section at each end of each longitudinal beam; each bracket having one of its arms fastened to the web of a transverse beam, its web fastened to one side wall of a longitudinal beam and its other arm connected beneath said longitudinal beam to the corresponding arm of the other bracket oi. the same pair, said brackets having their lower ends which extend downwardly beyond said longitudinal beams adapted for the attachment of wheelsupporting means.

2. In a vehicle underframe structure: a first beamwith a substantially vertically arranged web; a hollow section second beam with spaced vertical side walls arranged atan angle to and adjoining said first beam; and a pair of brackets U-shaped in horizontal section at the meeting point of the two beams; each bracket having one of its arms fastened to the web of the first beam, its web fastened to one of the side walls of, the second beam and its other arm connected beneath said second beam to the corresponding arm of the other bracket, and said brackets having their lower ends which extend downwardly beyond said secondbeam adapted for the attachment of adjoining parts such as wheelsupporting means.

3. In a structureaccording to claim 2, a horizontal flange along a margin of the web of said first beam; lateral flanges along the margins of said side walls; and a gussetplate interconnect- 5 ing said flanges of both said beams.

4. In a structure according to claim 2, said second beam having a bottom wall, and said other arms of said brackets being connected to one arm of an angle section gusset the other arm of which is secured to said bottom wall.

5. In a vehicle underframe: a first beam of angle section having a substantially vertically arranged arm and a laterally extending arm; a hollow section second beam with spaced vertical side walls adjoining said first beam and including an angle therewith; a pair of angleshaped brackets, each having one of its arms fastened to one side wall of the second beam and its other arm to the vertical arm of the first beam; said brackets extending downwardly beyond said second beam and having the downwardly extended portions of their arms which are iastened to said side walls connected to the arms of a U-section member, the bottom wall of which is attached to said laterally extending arm of the first beam; the lower ends of said brackets and said U-section members being adapted for the attachment of parts of the running gear such as wheel-supporting means.

RAYMOND J. TI-IERIAUL'I'.

anrnnnncns crrnn' The following references are of record'in the file of. this patent: 

